Ritz Carlton

Occupying floors 102 through 118 in the Kowloon-side ICC skyscraper, this has been a favorite of mine since 2012. Being a decent sized Ritz-Carlton property, service is somwhat rused but they’re usually pretty great, accomodating and friendly. Make sure to get a view facing south-west (rooms 1xx-24 through 1xx-31, xx being any of their guest room floors). The view is to die for. The pic above is from one of those rooms a few years ago.

Getting there is a breeze. Jump on the Airport Express right after arrivals, get off when you get to the Kowloon station, walk through the Elements mall for a few minutes, and boom, you’re there. I can’t remember my record time but it’s somewhere around 50 minutes from touching down on the runway to being in the Ritz-Carlton outdoor pool.

Restaurants are pretty decent. Café 103 has a good lunch buffet (though they no longer have a foie gras station with a dedicated chef on standby, sadly), with a really nice dessert selection. Tosca serves good Italian food, and unwinding with a cup of tea while enjoying the view from one of their window tables is a very, very relaxing thing to do. Ting Lun Heen does chinese cuisine and has two Michelin stars, and they do a really nice lunch set menu. I’ve never tried the Ozone bar.

Getting back to that pool, though. The 118th floor sports an indoor pool and, the icing on the skyscaper cake, an outdoor jacuzzi. I absolutely love it. Having said that, though, over the last few years they’ve managed to lessen the experience somwhat. It used to be void of any light pollution but nowadays they have flood lights screwing up the would-be amazing views at night. And last time I was there (December 2018) they had put a bunch of plants between the jacuzzi and the south-west facing views. I don’t understand why. It’s still a pretty great place to get a hot bath and stunning views though.

The outdoor jacuzzi on a rainy day…

Weddings everywhere…

Tosca

Ting Lun Heen

Hey, balloons!

South-west-ish view

The Upper House

This one’s on the Hong Kong Island side, I was talked into staying there by a friend recently, and it’s really quite nice. The general level of service is really, really good. Get a room facing Kowloon and you’ll enjoy a nice view, with the bathroom laid out in a way allowing you to enjoy the views while taking a nice bath.

Mira Moon

This one’s on the Hong Kong Island side too, closer to Causeway Bay. Not on the upscale level of the RC and The Upper House, but it’s nice and easy and pretty good.

Other Hotels

Other Stuff

The Old Man is a nice little bar, I find the Star Ferry tour to be a nice way to experience the cityscape seaside, and if you want shopping the insane Harbour City mall has everything – everything – from Gucci (technically across the street), Burberry, LV and the likes to Hong Kong style fast food at Café de Coral. Oh, and Sen-Ryo sports a slightly more upscale version of the good old sushi belt thing.